Friday Morning Coffee: The Friday Five.

Good Friday Morning Fellow Seekers. The final weekend of September is upon us. Hope you're planning to use it well. To help you ease into it, here's a quick rundown of the Top Five Stories making news this 30th day of September.

1. The Corbett administration's new Privatization Task Force (which we told you about yesterday) is packed with corporate-types and campaign donors. The folks at Democratic State Committee ran the numbers on some of the task force's more high-profile numbers and found they gave thousands of dollars to candidate Tom Corbett.Allegheny County GOP Chair Jim Roddey, for instance, donated more than $22,000 to Corbett's campaigns between 2003 and 2010, while commission member Sue Schick, who's the CEO of a little Mom & Pop called United Healthcare, gave $13,000.

2. A Republican state senator from Lancaster teed off on legislation that would make English the state's official language. In a floor speech Monday recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month, Sen. Lloyd Smucker said the General Assembly should "not dishonor" the state's heritage of tolerance, Capitolwire reports this morning. The bills, sponsored by GOP Reps. Scott Perry of York County and Rosemarie Swanger of Lebanon County, were recently the subject of a hearing before the House State Government Committee, chaired by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler.Smucker highlighted the "civic and economic strength" of Lancaster's Hispanic community saying: "Everyday, a lot of Spanish is spoken. A lot of literature and documents written in Spanish are used, and a lot of students are learning Spanish as a second language – and we are none the worse for any of this. Hard to believe that some people see this as somehow threatening our economy or our fiscal health.”

He went on to say: “We would be better served by addressing deficiencies in our own civic education and understanding,” Then, quoting former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, he added: “Those who seek to erase other languages and cultural influences from our lives, who seek to disrupt the growing ethnic communities in our midst, do nothing to improve our society or brighten our prospects.”

3. State Rep. Joseph Brennan, arrested on charges he was driving with a blood-alcohol content nearly four times the legal limit, has applied for a first-time offenders program, our Mothership colleague, Nicole Radzievich, reports this morning.Brennan wants to enter Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, or ARD, a probationary program that also requires a judge's approval. The request came during Brennan's formal arraignment Thursday along with dozens of others accused of driving under the influence.Brennan, a 47-year-old Bethlehem Democrat, is charged with drunken driving, careless driving and public drunkenness.

4. Fiscally troubled Harrisburg will almost certainly face a shake-up in leadership if the state takes over management of the city, the Patriot-News reports this morning. Mayor Linda Thompson will get to keep her second-floor office, But the real juice will rest with an appointed manager, the newspaper reports.

5. The eco-group PennFuture says it has a plan to keep natural gas drillers out of state parks: Getting them to pledge not to do it. Former DCNR Secretary John Quigley tells The Inky this morning that drillers have an incentive not to do it. Namely, drilling in parks is a PR nightmare waiting to happen. "Drilling in state parks is going to provoke public outrage," he said."I think, frankly, that the industry does not need the PR headache."

What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition).U.S. Sen. Bob Casey holds a 5:30 p.m. reception at the Hersha Building on North Front Street in Harrisburg tonight. Admission runs $100 to $500.

You Say It's Your Birthday Dept. Best wishes go out this morning to political guy (and fellow Harrisburg Academy parent) Bob Branstetter. Additional best wishes go out to Morning Call Sports Editor Bill Kline, who, despite being an ardent Penn State fan, is one of the finest people we know.

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning. Before we launch into the usual Friday Playlist, we just wanted to take a moment to note the passing of Leonard Dillon, leader of the iconic reggae band, The Ethiopians. Dillon, 68, succumbed to lung and prostate cancer, news reports indicate. So here's the usual Playlist. You guys know the drill ...

Friday's Finally Gratuitous Soccer Link.Manchester United 'keeper David de Gea found himself in some hot water after helping himself to a donut in a Tesco's store and not paying for it, The Sun reports. If only de Gea's fingers were that sticky when he was playing ...

OK. That's it for now. We'll be back later today with much, much more. Remember to follow us on Twitter and you can be our pal on Facebook (search under "Capitol Ideas").